(CNN) – Nearly fifty years after he was assassinated, President John F. Kennedy remains the highest rated modern president, according to a new Gallup Poll.

Kennedy earned an 85 percent retrospective job approval rating, the highest among the nine U.S. presidents who have served in the past 50 years. Ronald Reagan ranked second with a 74 percent approval rating.FULL POST

(CNN) - At 537 pages, former President Jimmy Carter's latest book, "White House Diary," is full of behind-the-scenes accounts of his time in the Oval Office - but one incident goes without mention, and it involves a rabbit.

In April of 1979, Carter used a paddle on his boat in Plains, Georgia to splash a rabbit and prevent it from swimming too close to his boat. Thirty-one years later, CNN's Howard Kurtz asked him about the ordeal.FULL POST

(CNN) – Former President Jimmy Carter dismissed any notion that he has ill feelings toward the Tea Party movement.

"I don't have any criticism of the members of the Tea Party," Carter told CNN's Howard Kurtz in an interview on "Reliable Sources." "A lot of those same people, 30 years ago, were the ones who put me in the White House."FULL POST

(CNN) – Former President Jimmy Carter predicted that Republicans' obstructionist ways should change and President Obama's re-election prospects could improve after next week's midterm elections.

Speaking Wednesday on HLN's "The Joy Behar Show," Carter said the Republican party has been "completely irresponsible" in the past 18 months by opposing most legislative initiatives backed by Obama and his fellow Democrats.FULL STORY

(CNN) - Former President Jimmy Carter, who had an upset stomach during a flight to Cleveland, Ohio, will spend the night in the hospital before resuming his book tour Wednesday, the Carter Center said in a statement.

Carter was taken Tuesday morning to MetroHealth Hospital, where he was under observation and resting comfortably, the Atlanta, Georgia-based center said. His doctor recommended he stay the night at the hospital to rest, officials said.

"He is fully alert and participating in all decision-making related to his care," the hospital said about Carter, who received a phone call from President Barack Obama. "The decision to admit him overnight is purely precautionary."

Former President Jimmy Carter suggested Monday that he is superior to other former presidents.

(CNN) – In the exclusive club of former presidents, not often does one declare his superiority to another. Former President Jimmy Carter appeared to do just that on Monday.

"I feel that my role as a former president is probably superior to that of other presidents," Carter told NBC's Brian Williams, citing his work on domestic and international issues that "fill vacuums in the world."

"When the United States won't deal with troubled areas, we go there and we meet their leaders who can bring an end to a conflict, or an end to human rights abuse, and so forth," Carter said. "So I feel that have an advantage over many other former presidents in being involved in daily affairs that have shaped the policies of our nation and the world."

Shortly after portions of his interview aired, the 39th president walked back his comments.

Former President Jimmy Carter blamed the late Sen. Ted Kennedy for delaying the passage health care legislation.

(CNN) – The late Sen. Ted Kennedy is widely hailed for devoting his political career to the cause of providing health care to all Americans. But in an interview set to air on 60 Minutes Sunday, former President Jimmy Carter says Kennedy is the one to blame for delaying legislation to provide such care.

"The fact is that we would have had comprehensive health care now, had it not been for Ted Kennedy's deliberately blocking the legislation that I proposed," Carter told CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl. "It was his fault. Ted Kennedy killed the bill."

Carter proposed health care reform in the late 1970s but was unable to sign any legislation. He said Kennedy blocked the bill in Congress out of spite in advance of the Massachusetts senator's unusual, and ultimately unsuccessful 1980 bid to unseat him.

"He did not want to see me have a major success in that realm of life," Carter said.